Brassieres



June 2, 1970 L. STRAUSS BRASSIERES Filed Oct. 18, 1968 m T N E V m y L uo w I e 32784 486 BY M4,? film @414 4,44 j y M ATToR Nizs United States Patent O 3,515,140 BRASSIERES Ludwig Strauss, Elkins Park, Pa., assignor to Kayser- Roth Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 768,622 Int. Cl. A41c 3/00 US. Cl. 128-425 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A brassiere used by women as a bust support. The brassiere has an elongated body-encircling band terminating in a pair of free ends adapted to be detachably connected to each other at the back of the wearer. A pair of cups are located over a front central region of this band, and these cups respectively have lower portions connected to and extending upwardly from the band and upper portions connected to and extending upwardly from the lower portions. The upper cup portions extend laterally beyond the lower cup portions along the upper edge of the band to which the upper cup portions are connected, and these upper portions are uninterrupted from the region where they are situated over the lower portions along their lateral extensions where they are situated over the band, beyond the lower cup portions, so that in this way the integral extensions of the upper cup portions and the band portions connected thereto form for the brassiere lateral side wings, without requiring separate wing panels for this purpose.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to brassieres.

In particular, the present invention relates to bustsupporting brassieres adapted to encircle the body of the wearer and provided with cups as well as a body-encircling band.

conventionally, brassieres are provide laterally beyond the cups thereof with side wings which extend along the sides of the wearer beneath the armpits and then along the back where the free ends of the brassiere are detachably connected to each other in a well-known manner.

Because of the presence of these side Wings, the cost of conventional brassieres is undesirably increased inasmuch as additional labor is required in connection with the operations for incorporating individual side wing panels into the brassiere. Furthermore, the presence of these side wing panels necessitates a relatively large number of seams which rub against the skin of the wearer of the brassiere, creating discomfort, chafing, and other problems. For example, unless the side wings are properly shaped and properly incorporated into the remainder of the garment, there will be unavoidable pulling creating an improper fit and increasing the discomfort of the brassiere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a brassiere which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a brassiere which does not require any independent side wings of the type referred to above.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a brassiere which is of a simplified construction, as compared to conventional brassieres, so that the cost of the brassiere of the invention is reduced, while at the same time the comfort with which the brassiere of the in- 3,515,140 Patented June 2, 1970 vention is worn is greater than the comfort which can be achieved with conventional brassieres.

According to the invention the brassiere includes a lower body-encircling band terminating in a pair of free ends adapted to be detachably connected to each other at the back of the wearer. A pair of cups are connected to the band at a front central region thereof. These cups respectively include lower cup portions connected with and extending upwardly from the front central region of the band and upper cup portions connected to and extending upwardly from the lower cup portions. These upper cup portions have integral extensions extending laterally beyond the lower cup portions and connected with upper edges of the band where the latter extends laterally beyond the lower cup portions, so that the extensions of the upper cup portions together with the regions of the band which extend beyond the lower cup portions together form the side wings of the brassiere. These side wings thus do not require separate panels which must be separately incorporated into the garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a brassiere according to the invention shown with the parts of the brassiere normally located at the back of the wearer extending laterally beyond the parts of the brassiere normally located at the front of the wearer; and

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, the brassiere 10 of the present invention which is illustrated therein includes a lower body-encircling band 12 made of a substantially non-stretchable fabric. The body-encircling band 12 terminates in a pair of free ends 14 and 16 adapted to be situated at the back of the wearer, and any detachable fastening means 18 in the form of sets of eyes 20 located at the end 16 and a pair of coacting hooks at the end of 14 are provided for detachably connecting the free ends 14 and 16 to each other.

A pair of cups 22a and 22b are connected with the band 12. These cups respectively include lower cup portions 24a and 24b and upper cup portions 26a and 26b. The lower cup portions 24a and 24b are connected, as by suitable stitching, to the upper edge of the band 12 at a front central region thereof and extend upwardly from the band 12. The upper cup portions 26a: and 26b are respectively connected, as by suitable stitching, to upper edges of the lower cup portions 24a and 24b and extend upwardly from these lower cup portions, the upper cup portions 26a and 26b respectively having pointed configurations 28a and 28b situated substantially centrally over the lower cup portions 24a and 24b and having straps 30a and 30b connected thereto. These straps can be adjusted in any well-known manner.

The upper cup portions 26a and 26b respectively have extensions 32a and 32b which form uninterrupted integral parts of the upper cup portions. These extensions 32a and 32b are respectively stitched to the upper edge of the band 12 at the regions of the latter which extend laterally beyond the lower cup portions 24a and 24b. It is to be noted that these extensions 32a and 32b respectively taper so as to have substantially pointed terminations 34a and 34b.

On the other hand, it is to be noted that while the band 12 is relatively narrow just beneath the lower cup portions 24a and 24b, at the regions where the band 12 extends laterally beyond the lower cup portions, this band 12 has lateral portions 36a and 36b of gradually increasing width joined to the tapering portions of the extensions 32a and 32b. In this way the side wings 38a and 38b of the brassiere of the invention will have a substantially uniform width. These side wings extend laterally beyond the cups beneath the armpits, and the band again tapers up to its free ends 14 and 16, as indicated in FIG. 1.

The brassiere includes a central vertical seam 40 joining the upper cup portions to each other and the lower cup portions to each other, and this seam 40 also extends centrally through the band 12 to join a pair of identical band portions to each other at the front central region of the brassiere, as indicated in FIG. 1. The straps 30a and 30b extend along the rear upper edge portions of the band 12 up to the ends 14 and 16, as indicated in FIG. 1.

Thus, the brassiere of the invention does not include separate wing panels which must be separately incorporated into the brassiere. Such separate wing panels not only cause additional labor costs, but in addition they provide substantially vertical seams at the outer ends of the lower cup portions 24a and 24b, in a conventional brassiere, and such additional seams create considerable discomfort.

Thus, the brassiere of the invention is not only simpler and less expensive than a conventional brassiere but in addition is more comfortable to wear and creates less possibility of chafing.

What is claimed is:

1. A brassiere comprising a lower body-encircling band terminating in a pair of free ends to be detachably connected at the back of the wearer, and a pair of cups each having a lower portion connected to a front region of said .band and extending upwardly therefrom and an upper portion connected to and extending upwardly from said lower portion, said upper cup portions respectively having elongated side extensions forming uninterrupted integral parts of said upper cup portions and extending laterally beyond said lower cup portions and connected to said band at the part thereof which extends laterally beyond said lower cup portions to the free ends of said band, whereby said extensions of said upper cup portions and said side regions of said band situated laterally beyond said lower cup portions together form side wings of the brassiere.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said extensions of said upper portions of said cups gradually taper to substantially point-shaped terminations distant from said lower cup portions.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein said bodyencircling band gradually increases in width at those regions where said extensions of said upper cup portions taper to form with the latter tapered extensions e1ongated regions of substantially uniform width to form said side wings.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein a central substantially vertical seam extends between and interconnects said cups to each other at said upper and lower portions thereof.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said band has a pair of elongated portions connected to each other at an extension of said central vertical seam.

6. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said upper portions of said cups have upwardly directed pointed configurations situated substantially centrally over said lower cup portions, respectively, and a pair of straps respectively fixed to said upper cup portions at said pointed configurations thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1954 Masstab l28-490 6/ 196-3 Smith 128489 

